Contact Information
University of Illinois
2015 MRL
104 S Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
Additional Campus Affiliations
W. W. Grainger Chair, Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Director, Materials Research Lab
Professor, Materials Research Lab
Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering
Professor, Micro and Nanotechnology Lab
Affiliate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Biography
Professor Braun received his BS degree, with distinction, from Cornell University, and his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from UIUC in 1998. Following a one year post-doctoral appointment at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, he joined the faculty at UIUC in 1999 as an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and a part-time faculty member of the Beckman Institute. He is the recipient of a Beckman Young Investigator Award (2001); 3M Nontenured Faculty Award (2001); Robert Lansing Hardy Award from TMS (2002), and Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2010). From the UIUC College of Engineering, he has received the Willett Faculty Scholar Award (2002), Xerox Award for Faculty Research (2004), and Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award (2010). He was named a University Scholar by the University of Illinois (2006).
Research Interests
energy storage; polymers; self-assembly; electronic materials; photonics
Research Description
Our research program covers a wide range of materials science disciplines, with a general focus on the formation and study of nano and microstructures through self and directed assembly. The Braun group focuses on new functional materials for energy storage and solar energy harvesting, in particular on the synthesis of materials with carefully crafted 3D nano- and mesoscale architectures which lead to emergence of new optical, electrochemical, and thermal functionalities. The group also has considerable research interests in self-healing materials and materials for chemical sensing.
Honors & Awards
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2010)
Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award, College of Engineering, UIUC (2010)
Named on List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students (2009)
Xerox Award for Faculty Research, College of Engineering, UIUC (2009)
Plenary Lecturer, Composites at Lake Louise, Banff, Alberta, Canada (2009)
Accenture Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising (2007)
Accenture Multi-year Faculty Achievement Award, College of Engineering, UIUC (2007)
Recent Publications
Chen, W., Zhan, X., Yuan, R., Pidaparthy, S., Yong, A. X. B., An, H., Tang, Z., Yin, K., Patra, A., Jeong, H., Zhang, C., Ta, K., Riedel, Z. W., Stephens, R. M., Shoemaker, D. P., Yang, H., Gewirth, A. A., Braun, P. V., Ertekin, E., ... Chen, Q. (2023). Formation and impact of nanoscopic oriented phase domains in electrochemical crystalline electrodes. Nature Materials, 22(1), 92-99. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01381-4
Chen, C., Du, S., Taylor, J. M., Huang, J., Evans, C. M., & Braun, P. V. (2023). Visualizing ion transport in polymers via ion-chromic indicators. ACS Macro Letters, 12(1), 86-92. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.2c00651
Cifci, O. S., Yoder, M. A., Xu, L., Chen, H., Beck, C. J., He, J., Koscher, B. A., Nett, Z., Swabeck, J. K., Paul Alivisatos, A., Nuzzo, R. G., & Braun, P. V. (Accepted/In press). Luminescent concentrator design for displays with high ambient contrast and efficiency. Nature Photonics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01281-2
De Jong, D., Karst, J., Ludescher, D., Floess, M., Moell, S., Dirnberger, K., Hentschel, M., Ludwigs, S., Braun, P. V., & Giessen, H. (2023). Electrically switchable metallic polymer metasurface device with gel polymer electrolyte. Nanophotonics, 12(8), 1397-1404. https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2022-0654
Huang, J., Ramlawi, N., Sheridan, G. S., Chen, C., Ewoldt, R. H., Braun, P. V., & Evans, C. M. (2023). Dynamic Covalent Bond Exchange Enhances Penetrant Diffusion in Dense Vitrimers. Macromolecules, 56(3), 1253-1262. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c02547